The relationships between History and Cinema they are wide and varied. They can cover both aspects of film history and historical themes that are covered in films, from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day.
The cinematographic projector was invented in 1895 by the Lumière brothers. Since then, a new way of capturing images of visible reality has become imperative. Before, only photography was able to capture accurately, but the image remained fixed, immobile. Lumière's cinematograph made it possible to capture the moving image, or the “moving image”, causing a true technological revolution.
In the early decades of the 20th century, cinematographic art began to be developed, that is, cinema became something more than a way of capturing moving images or a mere technological artifact, but a type of instrument that could produce works of art, taking as references other arts, such as dramatic art, painting and literature. This is the case, for example, with the expressionist and surrealist film schools.
Throughout the 20th century, cinema has been transformed into a major entertainment industry, while improving the techniques of dramatic art. The cinema developed in the United States of America, especially in Hollywood, was responsible for popularizing the taste for movie theaters as an entertainment venue in various regions of the world. Themes such as melodrama and the Western (which takes place in the American Midwest, at the time of the march to the West in the 19th century) are, to this day, among the most popular.
With the improvement of filming techniques and special effects production, it was gradually possible to produce films that had historical, futuristic and science fiction themes. the filmmaker Stanley Kubrick knew how to explore these genres well in films such as clockwork orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Glory made of blood.
There are many other examples of films that addressed specifically historical themes and became cinema classics, since then it has been the object of research for specialists and alternative sources to teach and learn some content from History. This is the case, for example, of films like the Gladiator (which covers the history of the Roman Empire at the time of Emperor Marcus Aurelius), Brave Heart (which covers the history of Scotland's attempted independence from the United Kingdom) and Pan's Labyrinth (which covers the history of the Spanish Civil War, which took place in the 1930s).
But to what extent is it possible to learn history from cinema? History and Cinema come together as the history of cinema is studied and films that deal with historical themes are evaluated and appreciated. However, it should be borne in mind that, like literature, cinema has a fictional plot, with an articulated plot and constructed characters, even though the theme is historical. Cinema should not be seen as a “decal” of historical reality, but as a special way of approaching a historical theme, which helps, in turn, in the understanding of history.
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes
